So it looks like I'll need at least one new tyre sooner rather than later.

Don't like the idea of a single new tyre, so will probably end up buying two.

At the moment I've got Bridgestone RE050A's on all corners.

However one tyre is down to 3mm (Front Passenger side) whereas the rest are OK.

To buy a new Bridgestone REO50A I'm looking at around £120.

Whereas Falken FK452's are available for a fair amount less.

Surely with regards tyres you get what you pay for?

Are the Falken's as good as some people seem to think they are?

With regards the new tyres and their position on the car.

Would my best bet be to move two of the Bridgestone's to the front and then fit the two new tyres at the rear?

Ta

Do you have a same size Bridgestone spare? If so, then I'd suggest buying 1 new Bridgestone, teaming it with the spare, and swapping the better of the 2 from the axle the well-worn tyre is on to the spare.

On the general point, books have (literally) been written on the subject of tyres. The Bridgestones might be better than the Falkens, but not enough to justify the extra price I suspect.

I have falken 452s and i'm happy with them , and will use them again , i had them on my cupra r as well , decent tyres for reasonable money,

I've had 452's on a few cars, very good!

And put the new ones on the front

I've had mine for just over a month. Grippy, not too noisy and don't snatch as much as my previous tyres.

Generally pleased with them.

I've had mine for just over a month. Grippy, not too noisy and don't snatch as much as my previous tyres.

Generally pleased with them.

So a pass from you then Jon.

>beats head on desk<

Repeat after me....Vredestein Ultrac

Sits back and waits for the abuse !!!!!!!!!!!

Please beat it harder so you'll stop posting.

For the price that they are, the Falken's are very good. And considering they are a massive amount cheaper than these strange tyres, myself and many others would recommend them.

When the set I'm currently rolling on wear out.. guess what... I'll be getting some more.

With regards the new tyres and their position on the car.

Would my best bet be to move two of the Bridgestone's to the front and then fit the two new tyres at the rear?

I got the Falkens and I must say for the money they are very good tyres. With regards to fitting the older tyres to the front, that is what is usually recommended, however, when I had my Falkens fitted, they recommended that they go on the front as they were directional and my other tyres (Contis) were assymetric.

FWIW the Falken 452 are a very good tyre for the price.

Excellent in the dry, very good in the wet.

A bit squirmy in the greasy damp.

.

Totally useless on ice (from compacted snow/slush).

You can certainly buy far worse and take into consideration when reading my comments, that the F452 is a performance summer tyre.

Falkens get my vote

Anything other than a true studded tyre is useless on real ice (water that freezes, not hard-packed snow) IME.

Anything other than a true studded tyre is useless on real ice (water that freezes, not hard-packed snow) IME.

Don't know if you've seen the video, which had summer tyres, all season tyres and winter tyres fitted to the same car, making the same manouvre on an indoor ice rink.

Summer were completely hopeless, all season faired a lot better, but miles ahead of the lot were the winter tyres.

ive had falkens and they are a decent tyre for the money maybe not as good as vredestein (which i havent tried yet), i actually replaced bridgestone re050s with them !

bridgestones better in the dry but poor in the wet , falkens good in the wet, put 2-3 psi more pressure in them they work better

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/Falken/FK452.htm

Just a bit of a thread-ressurecting update. My front 452's are all but done (maybe a month left in them) after fitting them 21 Aug last year. I do a 60 mile per day round trip so a fair bit of mileage with the weekend running around, I'd say about 10k miles in this time. In summary, my experience is that they will last 10k (6 months doing my mileage) on the front with very occasional spirited driving I still think that represents very good value for money and they were an excellent tyre during that time (except in the snow when they were useless).

The back tyres look as if they have hardly been touched!!

Have ordered some Ultrac Sessantas for the front to try out and compare.

Had falkens on my fabia and lasted 27kish (swaping front to rear keeping even fairly even) before I had to change them. Gripped well and for the money lasted well. I found toyo's lasted slightly longer (30k) and gripped slightly better in the wet and dry.

That was 95% motorway driving and 5 laps of silverstone and a few weekend worth of santa pod on the falkens and on the toyo's it was the same but 5 laps on the ring.

My Falkens are also near the end of their useful life, with about 3mm left to go, which should do for another couple of months.

I have to say that for the price, they're hard to beat. They have been outstanding, come rain or shine. Even down at 3mm, they're still inspiring confidence in the wet, which is more than I can say for my old ContiSportContact3 tyres which had me going straight on at roundabouts where I was turning right!

I'm tempted to get them again, but I think I must try these Ultracs that everyone raves about on here, although they'll be going straight on the rear. If they're anything like as good as the Falkens in the wet then I'm sure I'll be pleased.

I was thinking of buying them on the web and having them locally fitted, although local Vredestein dealers seem to be charging a shade over £100 per tyre, which seems pretty good.

What prices are tyre places charging people to fit and balance their tyres they've bought online?

With regards the new tyres and their position on the car.

Would my best bet be to move two of the Bridgestone's to the front and then fit the two new tyres at the rear?

Ta

The new pair should always go on the driving wheels so in your case the front.

If you have had excessive wear on the front left (assuming that you have kept your pressures correct) then you should also get a wheel alignment done when the new tyres are fitted.

Edited 27 January, 201016 yr by K1W1

The new pair should always go on the driving wheels so in your case the front.

If you have had excessive wear on the front left (assuming that you have kept your pressures correct) then you should also get a wheel alignment done when the new tyres are fitted.

It is recommended that the best tyres are fitted to rear of the car to counter any tendency to oversteer and hence spin the car. Understeer is a lot more controllable. Some tyre fitters will only fit tyres this way round.

It is recommended that the best tyres are fitted to rear of the car to counter any tendency to oversteer and hence spin the car. Understeer is a lot more controllable. Some tyre fitters will only fit tyres this way round.

Not in Australia. New tyre are always fitted to the driving axle. I guess it's a regional thing.

What prices are tyre places charging people to fit and balance their tyres they've bought online?

About £10 or usually nearer £15 per corner including balancing, disposal, VAT, etc. Camskill were charging £83 per tyre plus delivery to supply only and that was the best price I saw online. However, my local dealer could do mine for a shade over £100 each all in so similar to you and I ended up going with that today for the Vredesteins

Edited 27 January, 201016 yr by muckipup

About £10 or usually nearer £15 per corner including balancing, disposal, VAT, etc. Camskill were charging £83 per tyre plus delivery to supply only and that was the best price I saw online. However, my local dealer could do mine for a shade over £100 each all in so similar to you and I ended up going with that today for the Vredesteins

That's pretty much what I thought to be honest, so I think I'll just go with a local place rather than mail order, when the time comes.

I actually had my 2 Falken's fitted last weekend.

After a discussion with the fitters we moved my two good Bridgestone's to the front and the Falken's were fitted to the rear.

Fitter said he would fit them however I wanted them, however he couldn't recommend enough the older tyres going on the front.

With more than 3mm of tread, which tyre goes where is largely immaterial in terms of oversteer / understeer.

FWIW, my car had Falkens nos. 7, 8, 9 and 10 fitted recently. Having had Primacies, Proxeses and P Zero Neros, I'd say that the Falkens are as good as any of them, but at much lower cost. I should perhaps clarify this with the fact that I've got ZE912s not FK452s, but that's simply down to what's available for my car. As a brand, I am more than happy with Falken...

Not in Australia. New tyre are always fitted to the driving axle. I guess it's a regional thing.

Ive seen some pretty good evidence (testing at MIRA) that the grippiest tyres should always go on the rear irrespective of whether its front or rear wheel drive . The reasoning being that for a FWD car with best tyres on the front, if you go too fast into a tighter than expected corner and then lift off the extra turn in together with the unloading of the rear due to weight transfer will cause the rear tyres to loose grip because being worn they cant match the front ones and then you spin. With RWD, lifting off effectively puts a brake to the rear tyres which being worn loose grip faster than then fronts and again you loose the back end.

I guess in Oz its the other way round.